NO Vouliagmeni or "NOV" ( Greek: Ναυτικός Όμιλος Βουλιαγμένης, "NOB" = Nautical Club of Vouliagmeni) is a major aquatic sports club, founded by local sportsmen in 1937 in the seaside resort of Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece. The club is located on the eastern edge of the Mikro Kavouri peninsula, adjacent to the Astir Palace Hotel and overlooking the bay, town and lake of Vouliagmeni. The club also takes particular pride in being an "extended family" for all its past and present athletes. Almost all its coaches and sports staff are past club athletes, and members are encouraged to involve their children in club sports from the youngest age possible.

Activities

The club admits members and their guests and operates a

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

, a waterskiing school, junior and Olympic competition sailing boats and facilities, an open-air, heated swimming pool, two rocky beaches, members' indoor and outdoor lounges, reading and conference rooms, a first-aid station, a gym, and an upscale restaurant. The club publishes a quarterly illustrated newsletter, the "''Tríaina''" (Τρίαινα, " Trident"), distributed free. As part of the celebrations for the club's seventy years, a memorial volume, "''In Search of the Sporting Ideal''", was published in 2008, in commemoration of the club's history. The volume chronicles the club's foundation and development, and pays particular tribute to the many club athletes who have taken part in Olympic Games and won Olympic medals. The most notable Olympic athlete to have been fostered at the club is windsurfer Nikolaos Kaklamanakis (gold medal, Atlanta Olympics, 1996, and silver medal, Athens Olympics, 2004). The outdoor, heated pool hosts swimming,

finswimming Finswimming is an underwater sport consisting of four techniques involving swimming with the use of fins either on the water's surface using a snorkel with either monofins or bifins or underwater with monofin either by holding one's breath or ...

synchronized swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming) or artistic swimming is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by FINA (the ''Fédérati ...

and water polo teams and the respective training schools for children. The club hosts two annual competition meetings for youngsters, the "''Tzeláteia''" swimming gala and the "''Chatzitheodórou''" water polo Cup, as well as annual water skiing and sailing events. In addition to regular training for its young athletes, the club organises training schools for beginners, open to all children interested in swimming, finswimming, water polo, boat sailing, windsurfing, synchronized swimming, and waterskiing. Four periods are offered per year in total, two (winter and spring) during school season and two more during the summer vacations. Sports activities for members include aquarobics, aerobics, martial arts classes, long-distance sea swimming, water skiing, and Olympic and recreational sailing and windsurfing. The club also provides mooring for recreational boats owned by members. Several social events and functions are also held at the club, including concerts, art exhibitions, lectures, receptions, dinner parties, the Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve balls, the all-day "May Day at the Club" barbecue, and the midsummer "Full Moon Ball".

Crest and colours

The club crest depicts a blue anchor set inside a white lifebuoy with eight red stripes; blue, white and red being the club colors.

Water polo

The women's and men's water polo teams are a traditional force in European water polo and have won many Greek and several European Championships and Cups. The club often hosts

LEN Euroleague The LEN Champions League is the top-tier European professional water polo club competition with teams from up to 18 countries. It is organized by the Ligue Européenne de Natation. The competition started in 1963 as European Cup. A change of nam ...

and LEN Cup tournaments, its star players consistently being capped for the Greek men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

national teams. The women's team are the reigning Greek champions (2010) and also the reigning European champions for the second consecutive year (2009, 2010). In 2009 they won the LEN Champions' Cup in Kirishi, Russia, defeating the Italian champions, Orizzonte

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

, in the final. In 2010 they won the LEN Champions' Cup in

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

, Greece, defeating the Russian champions,

Kinef Kinef ( rus, КИНЕФ), an syllabic abbreviation, abbreviation for Kirishi Petroleum Organic Synthesis ( rus, Киришинефтеоргсинтез, Kirishinefteorgsintez), is a Russian joint stock production association operating a large o ...

Kirishi, in the final. In addition to the men's and women's teams, the club maintains water polo teams for girls and boys aged 9 and upwards, and participates in all relevant youth competitions. All teams train under the supervision of head coaches (2010)

Ioannis Giannouris Ioannis Giannouris (born 13 January 1958) is a retired Greek water polo player who competed in the 1980 Summer Olympics. See also * Greece men's Olympic water polo team records and statistics * List of men's Olympic water polo tournament goalkeepe ...

and Alexia Kammenou, both former NOV players.

Notable players

Men

Georgios Afroudakis Georgios Afroudakis (born 17 October 1976) is a Greek water polo player. He played in five consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country from 1996 to 2012. He is, jointly with Croat Igor Hinić and Hungarian Tamás Kásás, the tenth athle ...

* Christos Afroudakis * Zachos Afroudakis * Nikos Darras *

Theodoros Lorantos Theodoros Lorantos (born 5 July 1971) is a Greek water polo coach and former player who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics, in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and in the 2000 Summer Olympics, having scored 12 goals in 19 appearances. He last coache ...

Dimitrios Mazis Dimitrios Mazis (born 5 September 1976) is a Greek former water polo player who competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics, in the 2004 Summer Olympics, and in the 2008 Summer Olympics. He currently serves as the head coach of Panathinaikos Water Po ...

* George Mavrotas *

Georgios Psykhos Georgios Psykhos (born 5 February 1973) is a Greek former water polo player who competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics (6th place), the 2000 Summer Olympics (10th place) with the Greece men's national water polo team. He was part of the Greece nat ...

Georgios Reppas Georgios Reppas (born 11 December 1974) is a Greek water polo player who competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics, in the 2004 Summer Olympics, and in the 2008 Summer Olympics. See also * Greece men's Olympic water polo team records and statistics ...

* Vangelis Roupakas * Stefanos Santa * Konstantinos Tsalkanis * Anthony HrysanthosSwimming to success: Q&A with the Australian men’s water polo goalie Anthony Hrysanthos
Marianna Alepidis ( Neos Kosmos), 16 August 2021. Accessed 13 September 2021. * Petar Trbojević

Women

Rebecca Rippon Rebecca Marie Rippon (born 26 December 1978) is an Australian water polo player. She represented Australia as a member of the Australia women's national water polo team at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics, where she won ...

Alexandra Asimaki Alexandra Asimaki ( gr, Αλεξάνδρα Ασημάκη; ; born 28 June 1988) is a Greek water polo player considered one of the best female water polo players in the world in the 21st century. Asimaki was part of the Greece women's national w ...

* Alexia Kammenou *

Angeliki Gerolymou Angeliki Gerolymou ( gr, Αγγελική Γερόλυμου, born 22 June 1982) is a retired Greek water polo player, World Champion in 2011 in Shanghai with Greece women's national water polo team. She is the current assistant coach of Greece ...

* Kelina Kantzou * Dina Kouteli *

Georgia Lara Giouli "Georgia" Lara ( el, Γιούλη Λάρα, born 31 May 1980) is a female Greek water polo player and Olympic silver medalist with the Greece women's national water polo team. She received a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olymp ...

* Kyriaki Liosi * Antiopi Melidoni *

Evangelia Moraitidou Evangelia Moraitidou (born March 26, 1975) is a female Greek water polo player and Olympic silver medalist with the Greece women's national water polo team. She received a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in 2004 Athens.

Anthoula Mylonaki Anthoula "Anthi" Mylonaki ( el, Ανθούλα Μυλωνάκη, born 10 June 1984) is a female Greek water polo player and Olympic silver medalist. She is part of the Greece women's national water polo team. Career Mylonaki received a silver m ...

Aikaterini Oikonomopoulou Aikaterini Oikonomopoulou or Katerina Oikonomopoulou ( gr, Κατερίνα Οικονομοπούλου; born February 16, 1978) is a female Greek water polo player and Olympic silver medalist with the Greece women's national water polo team. S ...

Antigoni Roumpesi Antigoni Roumpesi or Antigoni Roumbesi ( gr, Αντιγόνη Ρουμπέση, born 19 July 1983 in Athens) is a Greek water polo player, World Aquatics gold champion and Olympic silver medalist with the Greece women's national water polo team. ...

* Christina Tsoukala *

Patricia del Soto Patricia Del Soto Traver (born 16 December 1980 in Esplugues de Llobregat) is a Spanish female water polo Goalkeeper (water polo), goalkeeper. In her youth, she played with Club Natació Esplugues before competing for CE Mediterrani from 1995 to 1 ...

Heather Petri Heather Danielle Petri (born June 13, 1978) is an American water polo player, who won the silver medal with the US women's national team at the 2000 Summer Olympics, a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, a silver medal in Beijing in 2008 ...

Moriah van Norman Moriah van Norman (born May 30, 1984) is an American water polo player who has played for the University of Southern California and the National team, who won the Peter J. Cutino Award in 2004, recognized as the best female collegiate player in ...

* Ashleigh Johnson

Notable coaches

Men

Dimitris Mavrotas Dimitris (Δημήτρης) is the Modern Greek form of the older forms Demetrios, Dimitrios (Δημήτριος, usually Latinized as Demetrius) and may refer to: *Dimitris Arvanitis (born 1980), Greek professional football defender who plays for ...

* Vangelis Roupakas * Josep Brasco Cata

Women

* Alexia Kammenou *

Giorgos Katsoulis Giorgos Katsoulis ( el, Γιώργος Κατσούλης , 1963 – 22 February 2023) was a Greek water polo player and the assistant coach of Olympiacos Women's Water Polo Team, since 2016. As a player, Katsoulis played for Greek powerhouse Oly ...

* Vangelis Roupakas * Akis Tsatalios

Water polo titles

*Men: ** Greek water polo championships (4): 1991, 1997, 1998, 2012 ** Greek water polo cups (4): 1996, 1999, 2012, 2017 **Double (1): 2012 **Greek Super Cup (1): 1996 ** Shield of the European Union

LEN Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1997 ** Shield of the European Union

LEN Euro Cup ***''Runners-up (1): 2004'' *Women: ** Greek water polo championships (11) (record): 1991, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012 ** Shield of the European Union

Women's LEN Champions' Cup (2): 2009, 2010 ***''Runners-up (3): 2008, 2012, 2014'' ** Shield of the European Union

Women's LEN Trophy (1): 2003 ***''Runners-up (3): 2000, 2005, 2016'' ** Shield of the European Union

LEN Women's Supercup The LEN Women's Super Cup is an annual water polo match organized by the LEN and contested by the reigning champions of the two European club competitions, the Euro League and the LEN Trophy. Title holders * 2006: Honvéd * 2007: Fiorentina * ...

(2): 2009, 2010

European Honours

References

External links

Official website

The photographic archive of NOV, tracking the club's course from the 1940s to the present
(in English and Greek)
"La regina Alexia" - news item from the Water Polo Development World website
(in Italian and English) {{Vouliagmeni Women's Water Polo 2009-10 European Champions Water polo clubs in Greece Yacht clubs in Greece 1937 establishments in Greece Multi-sport clubs in Athens Sports clubs established in 1937 Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni